WO2017060138A1

WO2017060138A1 - Control application for automatized maintenance device

Info

Publication number: WO2017060138A1
Application number: PCT/EP2016/073085
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bjorn Christiaan Wouter KAAG
Original assignee: Philips Lighting Holding B.V.
Priority date: 2015-10-06
Filing date: 2016-09-28
Publication date: 2017-04-13

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and system exploiting knowledge gathered and/or provided by a network controlled application system, in particular a software defined application system, that supports an automatized maintenance device for example a robot vacuum cleaner (RVC) in the cleaning process and/or optimizes the RVC's operation based on measured parameters concerning the RVC's activity area and/or observed/predicted patterns of measured parameters concerning the RVC's activity area.

Description

Control application for automatized maintenance device

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of automatized maintenance device, for example an automatized cleaning device, in particular to a control system supporting and/or controlling the operation of the automatized maintenance device exploiting knowledge gathered from other network controlled devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An automatized maintenance device, for example a cleaning device like a Robot Vacuum Cleaner (RVC) is an autonomous unmanned vehicle that can for example clean the floor by suction and/or brooming or other means. The maintenance process is subject to design trade-offs: in the case of a robot vacuum cleaner the suction power is limited on purpose to cope with limited battery energy storage, and a brooming system sometimes rather disperses the dirt than cleaning it. Usually the range an RVC may cover is often limited to tens of minutes of cleaning before the robot vacuum cleaner needs to return to its charging station. It is expected that in the future better RVCs with stronger suction power and better energy storage will be built for acceptable pricing. Same considerations also apply for other maintenance devices like floor maintenance/cleaning device (for application of wax or for wet cleaning).

EP 2 466 41 1 A2 discloses a common RVC which can communicate with its base station either via radio frequencies or via optical waves, e.g. infrared. In order to locate and control the automatized maintenance device the disclosed system uses beacons dedicated extra for that purpose.

From US 2014 207 280 it is further known to connect an RVC with a public network, such that a user input may provide control commands via a remote user terminal, such as a mobile phone to start a cleaning operation while not being at home.

It is well known that an automatized maintenance device (e.g. a RVC) uses sensors to construct the room image. The imaging of the room is also imperative to construct the room's geometry and software is used to construct a route to visit every corner of the room's surface area to support the maintenance/cleaning process. These sensors are often very expensive and hence their quality is often relatively limited. Most systems rely on one or more camera systems operating with light in the visible spectrum, since advanced systems may use image analysis to determine if the surface got clean (or e.g. coated) after a sweep by the RVC (or e.g. a wax applying device) or if some dirt remains visible and hence another sweep of the RVC is required. It is apparent that alternative imaging systems such as e.g. infrared camera is not optimal for that process. It is also apparent that installation of a light on the RVC introduces disadvantages: the light will often not be bright enough and the additional energy usage limits the RVC's autonomy, e.g. range and operation endurance. Assuming that an office building should be cleaned by an RVC at night, i.e. during hours when human office personal is absent. The office building may have light switches on the walls and Passive Infrared presence detectors to switch on the lights in respective room. An RVC can navigate through the room and reach all areas for cleaning. But an RVC generally does not produce heat (like humans do) and may not trigger the Passive Infrared presence sensors to switch on light.

JP2007133669 suggests to equip an RVC with a transmission component that enables the RVC to determine a lighting level and issues a lamp control command to switch on/off a lamp in the intensity required by the RVC. In case the transmitted signal is a generic switch on/off signal, the RVC may switch on every light in its vicinity (even though not required for achieving a particular lighting level). Furthermore, the required device interface and/or actuator to determine a light level and generate and transmit lamp control signals would require additional energy which would limit the range/time the RVC may operate before it has to return to its station for recharge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved control system and method for a automatized maintenance device that improves operation, in particular operation timing and operation resources, of the automatized maintenance device.

The object is solved by a method and system exploiting knowledge gathered and/or provided by a network controlled application system, in particular a software defined application system, that supports the RVC in the cleaning process and/or optimizes the

RVC's operation based on measured parameters concerning the RVC's activity area and/or observed/predicted patterns of measured parameters concerning the RVC's activity area.

In an aspect of the invention there is provided a method for use within a application control network to support a automatized maintenance device comprising: monitoring occupancy conditions in a plurality of rooms and determining timeslots in which the respective rooms are usually empty;

calculating an operation schedule for the automatized maintenance device based on the monitored occupancies conditions;

receiving from an actuator connectable to the automatized maintenance device a stimulus signal with a distinct pattern indicative of the automatized maintenance device;

determining the location of the automatized maintenance device based on the received stimulus signal;

in reaction to the stimulus signal instructing the automatized maintenance device to operate in accordance with the operation schedule and controlling network controlled equipment in a vicinity of the automatized maintenance device to support the maintenance process based on an application plan associated with the operation schedule comprising location and availability information about the network controlled equipment.

The RVC may be equipped with an actuator, either integrally or as a retrofit component to transmit a stimulus signal, such as - but not limited to - an electromagnetic signal comprising a distinct pattern, e.g. special frequency, pulsed signal, etc. The signal may be received, e.g. via a detection device comprised in a software controlled application network. Accordingly, the actuator of the RVC should be chosen in correspondence with the detection devices provided by the software controlled application network, e.g. IR transmitter and IR signal detector, ultrasonic transmitter and ultrasonic detector etc. The location of the RVC may be determined based on an application plan hosted by a management system, such as e.g. a software controlled application system, to control the application network. The application plan may comprise locations of all application devices within the network. The locations may be determined during commissioning of the application network, detected during operation by self-learning procedures, entered manually or could be downloaded from an external server. Alternatively or in addition, the RVC may transmit its coordinates via the stimulus signal. The application plan may also comprise application scenes defining application patterns, e.g. when particular application devices are to be active and when they may be operated in a low power mode, or be switched off. These application scenes may be exploited to determine a proper timing for the RVC to clean a particular area, e.g. a lighting application scene may determine time slots in which the light may be switched off since it is known or learned that no one is using a room, for instance outside the office hours, e.g. over night or at weekends. These time slots may be used for cleaning sessions by the RVC. The occupancy of people present in a room may be detected by a presence detector which may be used to control a lighting application within a room. In case a room may only be entered with a special permission, a respective control system for the door may log the people entering and leaving a room and thus provide knowledge about occupancy levels within a room. Since navigation through a room is more difficult for the RVC when moving objects are present - recalculation of the cleaning route costs additional energy - and since the people in a room may be disturbed by the RVC, it will usually be preferred to conduct the cleaning process during time slots when a room is empty. Live monitoring may thus provide the detection of an empty room. By providing an operation schedule to the RVC, the RVC may operate autonomously for a certain period of time, and thus not require to keep an communication interface active, which saves energy for the cleaning operation. Furthermore, the RVC may thus reach areas which may not be entirely or temporarily covered by the network, for instance when a power save mode is applied and parts of the network are switched off to save energy.

In an embodiment of the present invention controlling network controlled equipment in a vicinity of the automatized maintenance device comprises controlling a lighting level in the vicinity of the automatized maintenance device to provide a lighting intensity appropriate for an imaging system of the automatized maintenance device. In order to navigate as well as to determine a dust level of its surrounding, an automatized

maintenance device is often equipped with an imaging system. The imaging system provides optical data (usually in the visible spectrum) that may be analysed with image recognition techniques to determine a rooms geometry including doors to other rooms. Furthermore, the image system may provide the required input for advanced image analyses tools to determine dust/dirt levels to decide whether cleaning is necessary and/or a desired cleaning result has been achieved. Since the RVC will mostly be operated when no one is in the room, the lights will often be switched off. The lighting level - depending on the time of the day and surrounding light sources - may be too low for the imaging system of the automatized maintenance device such that the optical data is of low quality and cannot be properly analysed by default imaging routines. By controlling the lighting level in the vicinity of the automatized maintenance device the system can support the automatized maintenance device's operation by switching lights surrounding the automatized maintenance device to an appropriate intensity level. However, by not switching on each and every light in a room in response to the received stimulus signal, the system optimizes an energy consumption while facilitating the automatized maintenance device to properly maintain/clean and navigate through a room. In an embodiment of the present invention controlling network controlled equipment in a vicinity of the automatized maintenance device comprises controlling an automatic door to open and close to enable a automatized maintenance device to enter or leave a respective room. Similar to presence detectors used to control lighting applications, automatic doors use sensors to trigger opening and closing of a door. Again the RVC may not be recognized by a respective sensor and thus not trigger an opening of the automatic door or in case the threshold is very low open, the door every time it traverses the vicinity of the door, although it has no intention of leaving a room yet. In order to effectively control the door, once for entering and after having finished a cleaning session for leaving, software defined application system may control the door once to let the RVC enter the room and only open the door after it is determined that the RVC has finished its cleaning operation in a room, e.g. by receiving respective stimulus patterns or a signal indicating a mode change of the RVC from operative to transit mode.

In an embodiment of the present invention the method further comprises: receiving operation data from the automatized maintenance device, and calculating an operation path based on room occupancy and/or automatized maintenance device operation status. The resources, especially the battery , capacity of the vacuum cleaner bag, etc. are limited. Receipt of corresponding operation data, indicative of the battery status, vacuum cleaner bag etc. provided by the RVC may be used to calculate appropriate operation paths in dependence of room occupancies and/or the RVC'S operation status. The occupancy may comprise a current occupancy, e.g. only cleaning in empty rooms is desired. However, it may also comprise an occupancy observed over a certain time period, for instance over a day. A room which has been passed by a plurality of people, such as e.g. an entrance hall or floor will usually require more cleaning than a common office of a single person, hence more energy will be needed and there may be more dust to be sucked.

In an embodiment of the present invention the method further comprises: recording a automatized maintenance device operation history and determine operation patterns based on detected dirt or dust levels in dependence of monitored occupancy levels and external input, and operating the automatized maintenance device based on an operation patterns selected in dependence of a determined occupancy level and external input. Dust and dirt levels in a building may vary significantly depending on the occupancy levels and external conditions, such as the weather. By recording a automatized maintenance device operation history and determine operation patterns in dependency of these factors, the operation of the RVC may be adapted in correspondence with measured occupancy and weather conditions before an upcoming cleaning session, e.g. if it has been dry for a while and many people entered a room, the dust level may be higher than usual; if it rains the dirt may be wet and requires wiping or a sufficient time to dry of first. Other or further external input maybe holiday seasons, construction work, etc.

In an aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer program executable in a processing unit, the computer program comprising program code instructions for causing the processing unit to carry out a method as defined in claim 1 to 5 when the computer program is executed in the processing unit.

In an aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for supporting a automatized maintenance device comprising an occupancy detection unit adapted for monitoring occupancy conditions in a plurality of rooms and determining timeslots in which the respective rooms are usually empty; a receiver for receiving from an actuator connectable to the automatized maintenance device a stimulus signal with a distinct pattern indicative of the automatized maintenance device; a localization module configured for determining the location of the automatized maintenance device based on the received stimulus; and a controller adapted for calculating an operation schedule for the automatized maintenance device based on the monitored occupancies conditions; a transmitter for transmitting instructs to the automatized maintenance device to operate in accordance with the operation schedule and for controlling network controlled equipment in a vicinity of the automatized

maintenance device to support the maintenance process in reaction to the stimulus based on an application plan associated with the operation schedule comprising location and availability information.

It shall be understood that the method of claim 1 , the computer program of claim 8 and the system of claim 9 have similar and/or identical preferred embodiments, in particular, as defined in the dependent claims.

It shall be understood that a preferred embodiment of the present invention can also be any combination of the dependent claims or above embodiments with the respective independent claim.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following drawings:

Figure 1 shows software controlled application network. Figure 2 shows a software controlled application network with integrated automatized maintenance device.

Figure 3 shows an exemplary building plan showing several application devices distributed over several rooms and an RVC positioned in one of the rooms

Figure 4a-c illustrate possible data communication paths within a communication network

Figure 5 illustrates the path finding of an RVC

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Some embodiments are exemplary described in the context of lighting control applications as preferred embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the embodiments are not restricted to lighting control applications. The person skilled in the art will appreciate that the methods and devices may be exploited for any other control application requiring a similar system topology.

Besides, the automatized maintenance device is illustratively a Robot Vacuum

Cleaner (RVC), but all the following embodiments also apply to any other automatized maintenance devices, for example to dust surfaces, or apply a chemical/coating on surface (e.g. wax on floor).

In the following a software defined application (SDA) system provides knowledge about application specific requirements and instructions as stipulated in an application plan. For instance, an example of an SDA system is a software defined lighting (SDL) system that defines a lighting plan comprising one or more lighting scenes. A lighting scene may for example define dependencies or interactions between network devices, e.g. which lamps are to be switched on if a particular sensor is triggered.

A network management system such as a software defined networking (SDN) system provides knowledge about the respective network components present in a mesh network and may control configuration of forwarding tables and the like. However, the network management system does not know about application specific connections between certain network components.

Together the SDA system and the SDN system constitute a software defined control (SDC) system which combines both layers (application and network). The SDC system maps the application/lighting components onto the network topology and thus has the knowledge to decide which components or component parts may be switched off without degrading the capability of the (lighting) control network to execute a (lighting) application. Fig. 1 shows an exemplary application control network 300,e .g a lighting control network, which comprises a set of application control components 301 such as sensors to detect a signal and actuators to switch an electrical load. The application control components 301 may be powered by a wired communication link or alternatively by an optional energy source or storage 330. The application control components 301 may be connected via wire or wirelessly to a border network component 101, which is part of communication network 100. The border network component 101 is connected to the management system 230 via a network path in between 180. The network path in between 180 is capable of passing and forwarding data according to rules (so called 'data path definitions') programmed by the network management system 230. The SDA system 203 has knowledge of the application plan 204, which stipulates which lighting control components 301 are required to engage in respective application control scenes. The SDA system 203 may as such generate the information that is required to switch off one or more application control components in the application control network 300, e.g. any subset of sensor(s) or actuator(s). The SDA system sends power change commands (on/off/idle/other power status level) to the respective application control components. Furthermore, the SDA system 203 controls the network management system 230 to program the correct communication paths (filters with correct duration and addressing) which are required to ensure that the application control components may receive the required control messages through the network. Having the knowledge about the required application control components for an application scene as well as the required communication paths between them, the SDA system can also determine network components such as data forwarding components to be switched off and on depending on the application needs. For instance, if a communication path is not required for a certain time it may be beneficial in terms of energy savings to switch off the data forwarding device along this communication path. Hence, the SDA system may also send power change commands (on/off/idle/other power status level) to the respective data forwarding components. Usually, a data forwarding component provides several data ports for communication with respective other data forwarding components or application control devices, thus, providing a plurality of communication paths. In case only one of these communication paths is not required the SDA system may provide instructions to switch off only a single communication path by setting the respective data port of the data forwarding device to a hibernate mode.

Such an application control network may be exploited to control and support the operation of an automatized maintenance device, for example an RVC as explained with reference to figure 2, showing a software defined lighting system as preferred embodiment. The Software Defined Control (SDC) system 200 will implement a Software Defined Lighting (SDL) system 201 which maintains a building and lighting plan 202. The SDL system 201 is connected to a lighting control network 300 to receive data from application control components, such as sensors 306 and observes status changes of actuators 302 and 303. The RVC subsystem 100 can interact with the lighting control network 300 as well, using its actuator 102 to trigger sensor 306. The RVC subsystem 100 may use its imaging sensor(s) 133 to observe a status change in lamp actuator 303. Interaction between RVC subsystem 100 and SDC system 200 on the observed results is unidirectional. In the simplest embodiment of this unidirectional data link from RVC 100 to SDL 200, the RVC subsystem 100 may trigger a sensor and the SDC system 200 will execute a lighting control scene that indirectly improves operation of RVC subsystem 200.

Alternatively, another embodiment may use a bidirectional backchannel between RVC subsystem 100 to SDC system 200 to complete the communication loop, such that the RVC subsystem 100 can communicate with SDC system 200 what cleaning result has been observed and vice versa. The communication may be a simple notification by sending commands to sensor 103 via actuator 302 to confirm reception of data, or RVC subsystem 100 maintains a two way data-link with transceivers 150 and 220 to a SDC system 200 during operation.

The RVC may autonomously navigate through the rooms, having an actuator, either integrated or as attachment, indirectly supported by SDL system controlling lights and/or automatic electric doors, etc. The RVC may trigger different events indicated or performed by the SDL system via separate stimuli patterns.

Alternatively, an autonomous navigating RVC may be instructed by an SDL system providing a schedule to start and stop executing cleaning pattern in accordance with an application plan created and maintained by the SDL system under certain optimization criteria.

A further alternative implementation or additional is on RVC that is directly controlled by the SDL system which would however require to power-up a communication interface at any time. Furthermore, it will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the system described in Figure 2 can be implemented with some alternatives.

Alternatively the system may cache information when the data-link 150-220 is intermittent and use data protocols to recover when the data-link is re-established.

Furthermore, predefined building and/or lighting plan may be stored in a location accessible to the SDL system. However, the system does not require building plans or lighting plans to control the lamps in the lighting control system.

The RVC device 101 is equipped with an actuator 102 to issue stimuli signals with a special pattern. In a lighting control network 300 a passive infrared presence detector 306 is often used to detect human presence in a room. It is apparent for somebody skilled in the art that alternative stimuli can be transmitted to trigger another type of sensor. (For example but not limited to laser, RF, UV, ultrasonic, infrasonic, etc.)

In that case the stimulus may be an infrared (IR) signal with a distinct pattern. The actuator may either be integrated in the RVC or may be a separate device provided as retrofit, aftermarket actuator.

Once the RVC 100 is in a room, it may transmit a stimulus pattern. The stimulus pattern is recognized by a sensor in the room (e.g. PIR presence detector 306). The respective sensor communicates to the Software Defined Lighting system 201 that is has received a trigger from a (particular) RVC.

The SDL system 201 has a light plan 202 with inherent knowledge in what room the respective sensor 31 is located, and thus a localization module of the light plan can determine the location of the RVC. Further more advanced localization techniques may be used to increase the location accuracy of the RVC. The light plan may therefore determine a.) what associated lamps 303 are installed in that same room and b.) determine a lighting pattern and lighting intensity that is appropriate for the imaging system 133 of the due RVC subsystem 100 to do its work.

The SDL system 201 may execute a special "room cleaning" (lighting) control scene, which may include the building work "lighting" and/or other building works, such as for example but not limited to automatic doors, alert systems, etc.

When the system is capable of communicating with the RVC in any of the embodiments described above, the system may perform several actions, e.g.:

turn lights on for the RVC to operate, and turn lights off when RVC has completed cleaning and moved to another location.

issue commands to open automatic doors to enable the RVC to navigate to an adjacent room, and closes the doors after the RVC passed through them.

collect route mapping data from RVC. This data may be analysed in order to optimize routing path of the RVC, for example:

a) In very large rooms with many lights, the SDL system may switch lights on and/or to maximum brightness only in the vicinity of the determined location of the RVC in action. Other lights in that very large room may be dimmed or switched off entirely to save energy.

b) The SDL system could use the route mapping data to learn how long it typically takes to clean a particular room (type). Subsequent cleaning events could be accumulated into statistical averages. This information can be combined with typical lighting usage patterns of the rooms during the day, so as to learn from the lighting behaviour of a room what room type it represents (walkthrough area, study office, printing room, etc.) and derive an optimal cleaning pattern. The SDL system may than compute an operation schedule defining how frequent that cleaning pattern is required to be executed, for which rooms, and how long that would take. Thus, a cleaning effort in the time- window when humans are not present to interfere with the RVC may be optimized. By continuously updating the usage data operation, schedules may be progressively optimized when parts of the building need cleaning or have been cleaned, and may adapt to changes in office working patterns.

c) The SDL system may determine on the optimal number of RVCs that are required to clean the spaces of the building in a given time, e.g. overnight.

d) The system may also indicate the progression of the cleaning process and/or show historical performance, e.g. via means such as for example a geographic information system (GIS) showing e.g. a geographical overlay over the building plan, or via a plurality of graphs and/or lists.

e) The SDL system can give feedback if or when room cleaning by the RVC is not desired, by matching cleaning schedule timeslots with the observed lighting behaviour. Thus, the system can avoid RVC operation when there are still people present in the room (e.g. working overtime).

f) After some time the RVC(s) route(s) through the building could be known, and the system would discriminate between time required for transit on route from its charging station to a particular room (i.e. meaning the RVC would just drive and not clean) and the cleaning itself inside a room. If the RVC would be able to travel through darkness (e.g. by using for example Infrared or a laser scanner) and only need the camera working with (human) visible light to inspect the result of a cleaning action, the SDL system could opt to optimize the usage by not switching on the ambient lighting when the RVC is in transit mode and not in cleaning mode.

g) Co-pending application EP15183126.0 and EP15183131.0 describe an SDL system to minimizing energy usage by switching off data forwarding components for unused paths through the communication network. To maximize energy savings, the SDL system using present invention could optimize the transit routes and cleaning patterns, so as to limit the RVC sending stimuli to the network and as a result prevent the RVC to indirectly wake up (possibly large) parts of the communication network.

It is apparent that this office example could be substituted /replaced by for example but not limited to a warehouse, a show, a drugstore, a hospital, or any other building structure with a single or a plurality of spaces. It is also apparent that the SDL system may or may not send a notification back to the RVC.

Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary building site, in which for instance overnight only the emergency lights EMI and EM2 in the corridor could be lighted while all remaining lights in the rooms and corridor are switched off. An RVC is present in Room B with lamps L10..L21. The RVC signals its presence to PIR presence detectors Bl and B2. The SDL system switches on all lamps in room B, but turn lamps L1 1, L12, L14 and LI 5 surrounding the RVC to maximum brightness, while the other lamps in room B (i.e. L10, L13, L16..L21) are dimmed to a lower brightness level. Alternatively only lamps LI 1 to LI 5 may be switched on. When the RVC moves to another location the SDL system will adapt the light's brightness levels accordingly. The SDL system may be informed about the movements of the RVC by receiving relative or absolute coordinates from the RVC. The SDL system may then determine the correct subsets of lamps to change their status, e.g. switch on off or dim the lighting level.

The SDL system may in addition determine and discover optimal data communication paths through the communication network at any one time and optionally shut down components in the communication network that are not required at particular time intervals. This mechanism is described with reference to Figures 4a-c. In a first lighting control scene it may be defined to switch on all lights in room A. Starting from an "idle" network, the management system 200, such as a SDC system, calculates all available paths for sending a signal from the management system 200 to data switch S5. In this simplified example the possible paths are shown as path #1 and path #2. In the simple case that all data switches SI -SI 1 have the same energy requirements, the management system 200 will decide to use path #2 and switch on power to data switches S10 and S5 as this is considered the most energy efficient path to transfer commands to the lamps LI ..L4 in room A. In case the application control scene provides further knowledge regarding individual energy

requirements of the data switches which may be extracted from a database, the management system may determine another way as being more energy efficient even though a larger number of data switches required along that path. Subsequently, the use case of light control scene 2 as depicted in fig. 5c is triggered to switch on lights in room B. Again the management system 200 will analyze the available paths to reach the group of lamps for this lighting scene, which in this case are connected to two separate data switches (i.e. S4 and S10).

The management system 200 decides that the combination of path #3 and path

#6 is most energy efficient again assuming equal energy consumption of the data switches. Hence, compared to the previous light control scene 1 the management system will only switch on data switch S4 in addition. Although path #5 and path #6 require the same number of data switches to reach data switch S4 serving lamps LI 0 - LI 3, the additional information from the application scene that half the path of path #6 is equal to path #3 which is the preferred path to switched on lamps L14-L21 enables the management system 200 to favor path #6 over path #5. Those network components, e.g. data forwarding devices such as data switches or routers, which are not required for an application scene may remain or may be set to a low power mode, including powering down entirely, to save energy.

When an RVC transmits a stimulus signal that is received by the (lighting) control network and transmitted to the SDL system, the RVC may

a. ) wake up sleeping data forwarding devices in the communication network and/or

b. ) retain said data forwarding devices active so often and for so long that they virtually never get to a condition where the SDL system can switch large parts of the communication network off for certain periods of time. To maximize energy savings, the SDL system therefore could limit stimuli transmission by the RVC by optimizing transit routes and cleaning patterns in time: An example of an optimized RVC exploration path is shown in Figure 5. The order in which the rooms are cleaned is computed by the system taken into account occupancy and information gathered from other applications. The RVC will thus not continuously transmit stimulus signals to the application network but follow a predetermined path for which the application system keeps the necessary network

components awake.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. Method for use within a application control network (300) to support an automatized maintenance device (100) comprising:

monitoring occupancy conditions in a plurality of rooms and determining timeslots in which the respective rooms are usually empty,

calculating an operation schedule for the automatized maintenance device (100) based on the monitored occupancies conditions;

receiving from an actuator connectable to the automatized maintenance device (100) a stimulus signal with a distinct pattern indicative of the automatized maintenance device (100);

determining the location of the automatized maintenance device (100) based on the received stimulus signal;

in reaction to the stimulus signal instructing the automatized maintenance device (100) to operate in accordance with the operation schedule and controlling network controlled equipment (301, 302, 306) in a vicinity of the automatized maintenance device (100) to support the maintenance process based on an application plan associated with the operation schedule comprising location and availability information about the network controlled equipment (301, 302, 306).

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein controlling network controlled equipment (301, 302, 306) in a vicinity of the automatized maintenance device (100) comprises controlling a lighting level in the vicinity of the automatized maintenance device (100) to provide a lighting intensity appropriate for an imaging system of the automatized maintenance device (100).

3. Method according to claim 1 , wherein controlling network controlled equipment (301, 302, 306) in a vicinity of the automatized maintenance device (100) comprises controlling an automatic door to open and close to enable a automatized maintenance device (100) to enter or leave a respective room.

4. Method according to claim 2, further comprising:

receiving operation data from the automatized maintenance device (100), and calculating an operation path based on room occupancy and/or automatized maintenance device (100) operation status.

5. Method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising:

recording a automatized maintenance device (100) operation history and determine operation patterns based on detected dirt or dust levels in dependence of monitored occupancy levels and external input, and

operating the automatized maintenance device (100) based on an operation pattern selected in dependence of a determined occupancy level and external input.

6. A computer program executable in a processing unit, the computer program comprising program code instructions causing the processing unit to carry out a method as defined in claim 1 to 5 when the computer program is executed in the processing unit.

7. System (300) for supporting a automatized maintenance device (100) comprising:

an occupancy detection unit adapted for monitoring occupancy conditions in a plurality of rooms and determining timeslots in which the respective rooms are usually empty,

a receiver adapted for receiving from an actuator connectable to the automatized maintenance device (100) a stimulus signal with a distinct pattern indicative of the automatized maintenance device (100);

a localization module configured for determining the location of the automatized maintenance device (100) based on the received stimulus;

a controller adapted for calculating an operation schedule for the automatized maintenance device (100) based on the monitored occupancies conditions,

a transmitter for transmitting instructs to the automatized maintenance device (100) to operate in accordance with the operation schedule and for controlling network controlled equipment (301, 302, 306) in a vicinity of the automatized maintenance device (100) to support the maintenance process in reaction to the stimulus based on an application plan associated with the operation schedule comprising location and availability information.

8. System (300) according to claim 7, wherein the controller is adapted to control a lighting level at the location of the automatized maintenance device (100) to provide alighting intensity appropriate for an imaging system of the automatized maintenance device (100) and/or open an automatic door to enable a automatized maintenance device (100) to enter or leave a respective room.

9. System (300) according to claim 7, wherein the controller is adapted to control an automatic door to open and close to enable a automatized maintenance device (100) to enter or leave a respective room.

10. System (300) according to claim 7, wherein:

the receiver is adapted for receiving operation data from the automatized maintenance device (100), and

the controller being configured for calculating an operation path based on room occupancy and/or automatized maintenance device (100) operation status.

1 1. System (300) according to claim 7, further comprising:

a memory adapted for recording a automatized maintenance device (100) operation history,

and wherein the controller is adapted to determine operation patterns based on detected dirt or dust levels in dependence of occupancy levels and external input,

the system further comprising a transmitter to transmit instructions to the automatized maintenance device (100) to operate based on an operation pattern selected in dependence of a determined occupancy level and external input.